1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to printed circuit boards in general, and more particularly, to printed circuit boards having on-board batteries. Still more particularly, the present invention relates to a printed circuit board capable of receiving an on-board battery from multiple orientations.
2. Description of Related Art
Computer systems typically include multiple printed circuit boards, each of which provides different functions for the computer system. Depending on the size of a printed circuit board and the space available within the chassis of a computer system, some printed circuit boards are designed to be installed in the computer system vertically while other printed circuit boards are designed to be installed in the computer system horizontally.
Absent any specific design requirements, it is generally preferable to have various printed circuit boards to be situated as close to each other as possible within a computer system for compactness. However, some printed circuit boards include on-board batteries for providing additional power and/or serving as independent power sources, and replacing on-board batteries can be very difficult in tight spaces. Auto-docking connectors may reduce on-board battery replacement times, but they tend to require relatively high physical connection/disconnection force. Other simple and cost-effective solutions, such as providing a pull tab for an on-board battery, may increase the leverage utilized by extraction forces but they do not provide any mechanical advantage during battery installation.
Since quick and easy replacements of on-board batteries are paramount for computer systems that require high user-availability, such as computer servers, it would be desirable to provide an improved printed circuit board with such a feature.